ICE COLD
Teen activist Greta Thunberg glares at Donald Trump before telling world leaders ‘you stole my childhood’ at UN climate summit
TEEN activist Greta Thunberg glared at Donald Trump as he arrived at the UN climate action summit on Monday.
The 16-year-old then delivered an impassioned speech to world leaders, saying they had “stolen my childhood” with their “empty words”.
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Trump did not stay for Greta's speech, but a video of the pair in the lobby of the UN headquarters in New York has gone viral.
As the US President made an unexpected entrance at the event, Greta's expression changed into an ice-cold glare.
She went on to tell leaders they would never be forgiven if they failed to tackle rising temperatures.
The Swedish teen, who travelled to the US by yacht to avoid flying, said she should not be up on stage, but should be in school on the other side of the ocean.
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UN Climate Summit - Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg tells world leaders 'we will never forgive you' if they fail to act on climate change
"You come to us young people for hope - how dare you? You have stolen my dreams, my childhood with your empty words,” she said,
"People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing, we are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and the fairy tale of endless economic growth. How dare you?
"How dare you continue to look away, and come here saying that you are doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight."
She told the gathered politicians she did not believe they understood the situation, because if they did and continued to fail to act, they would be "evil" and she refused to believe that.
You have stolen my dreams, my childhood with your empty words
Greta Thunberg
The teenager said emissions should be cut to keep temperature rises to 1.5C, beyond which scientists have warned the impacts of climate change become much more severe.
And she warned that the situation could not be solved by "business as usual" and some technological solutions.
"The eyes of all future generations are on you. If you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you."
She added: "Right now, right here is where we draw the line. The world is waking up, change is coming, whether you like it or not."
Earlier, Thunberg was seen at the UN headquarters with an enraged expression on her face as US President Trump walked inside.
After the video of Trump and Greta went viral, the US President took to Twitter to describe her as a "happy young girl".
He tweeted: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"
The American leader – a climate change sceptic – was not originally scheduled to attend the summit as he was hosting a session on religious persecution in the same building.
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He sat down but stayed for just 15 minutes at the climate summit, entitled ‘A Race We Can Win, A Race We Must Win’ and convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
China, France, Germany, India and Russia and about 70 other countries were expected to make announcements concerning climate change at the summit.
Also expected to be announced is that some of the world's largest pension funds and investors, responsible for managing $2.4 trillion have committed to making their portfolios carbon neutral by 2050.
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